1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the sport of golf. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented system for and method of recording and analyzing golf performance. 2. Description of the Prior Art
Golf is one of the most popular sports in the United States. With the recent entrance of Tiger Woods into the golfing spotlight, the popularity of golf continues to increase at a rapid rate.
Because of the high level of difficulty associated with the game of golf, players are constantly searching for ways to improve their golf skills. Aside from instructional books and equipment, one improvement tool which is gaining popularity is the use of computers to record and analyze golf performance.
Today""s market contains various computer-related products designed to help players improve their golf performance. These products take the form of both stand-alone software packages and Internet Web sites. These prior art products, however, have largely proven unsatisfactory to many consumers for a number of reasons. First, many of these prior art products have limited utility and versatility, often making them undesirable to the average consumer. Second, many of these prior art products are functionally complicated and difficult to use, further rendering them undesirable to consumers. Third, many of these prior art products do not provide a simple and user-friendly user interface, further making them difficult to use. Fourth, many of these prior art products only record aggregate performance data (e.g., total number of strokes, total number of putts, strokes per hole, etc.). The lack of shot-specific data results in rudimentary analytic capabilities, severely limiting the utility of these products.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented golf performance recording and analysis tool which overcomes the problems associated with the prior art. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented golf performance recording and analysis tool which has increased utility and versatility as compared to the prior art and which is easier to use. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented golf performance recording and analysis tool which provides a more simple and user-friendly user interface as compared to prior art products. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented golf performance recording and analysis tool which records data at the shot-level and uses the recorded data to provide detailed and comprehensive analytic functionality. Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following discussion.
The present invention achieves the foregoing and other objects by providing a novel and non-obvious system for and method of golf performance recordation and analysis.
A system and method in accordance with the present invention allow golfers to record hole-level and shot-level performance information for rounds of golf played by one or more players, store this information in a centralized accessible database, and analyze this information in order to aid in the improvement of golf performance.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a user can download software from a World-Wide-Web (xe2x80x9cWWWxe2x80x9d) site or other computer readable medium, such as a floppy disk. The user can then use the downloaded software, which can run as a standalone application, on, for example, a personal or laptop computer or personal digital assistant (xe2x80x9cPDAxe2x80x9d) or as a plug-in to a WWW browser, to input hole-level and shot-level performance information for particular rounds of golf. This information can then be uploaded to the WWW site by the user for storage. The user can subsequently download any portion of the stored information (e.g., information relating to a particular round of golf) at any time from the WWW site and use the downloaded software to visualize and analyze the information to, inter alia, identify his/her strengths and weaknesses and improve future performance. Alternatively, the WWW site itself can be provided with analytical functionality which can be used by the user to analyze stored data.
In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, rather than downloading the software and course images from the WWW site, the WWW site itself can be provided with functionality that enables the user to connect to the WWW site using a WWW browser, input golf performance information into the browser, and upload the information to the WWW site for storage using the browser. The WWW site can also be provided with analytical functionality which the user can use for analysis of the stored golf performance information. Because all of the software is contained on the WWW site, the user does not have to specially configure his/her computer (other than having a functional WWW browser, which is a standard feature on virtually all computers sold today).
The present invention will now be described in greater detail with frequent reference being made to the drawings identified below in which identical numerals represent identical elements.